http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Neil-and-Jay/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Neil and Jay en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:02:28 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:02:28 +0000 Blog Fans this is it after 11 months we are heading home so this is our last blog entry.After Cambodia we flew to the island of Phuket in Thailand for a week of relaxation and healing. Phuket has some lovely natural scenery but the human additions are not quite so pretty and it felt quite odd to us to be in a purely holiday destination. We didn't replace our camera until we got to Singapore so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-299969.html We only spent one week in Cambodia but we packed a lot in dividing our time between the capital Phnom Penh and the Temples of Angkor outside Siem Reap. I Neil even managed to break my arm in the process but more of that laterFor a moment we thought we wouldn't get into the country at all because they took a dislike to a small tear on one page in Jason's passport and refused to issue him wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-295589.html From Hue we got the bus to Hoi An where we found a cheap hotel with a small pool which was much appreciated in this incredible heat. Hoi An is a georgous town on the Tru Bon River full of perfectly preserved streets of shops assembly halls and traders houses from the days when it was Vietnam's most important trading port. It has French Chinese and Japanese influences and the town is now a UNE http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-290608.html At first glance the guidebook seemed to have oversold the French Colonial charm of Hanoi's old town but looking beyond some of the horrible modern additions there are crumbling colonial buildings hiding some lovely old interiors strung out along the maze of medieval streets.One thing there is no denying is the energy and pace of Vietnam. First impressions are that it's totally different from Lao http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-290597.html Our route into Laos was a potential recipe for disaster. We took an early afternoon flight from Chiang Mai to Udon Thani in Thailand then a bus to Nong Khai on the ThaiLaos border then another bus across the Friendship Bridge to the Laos border and then a third bus to Vientiane. But all went surprisingly smoothly and we had checked into our guesthouse and were drinking our first Beerlao besi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-285217.html Some people reading this will have already heard accounts of our previous trip to Thailand so we will keep this blog short and sweet. Needless to say the food in Thailand is still good the people are still friendly and Bangkok is still an exciting place to visit. We spent most of our short time in Thailand visiting our friends Ian and Pop at their gorgeous home in north Thailand where they are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-281735.html We like Japan. What's not to like In two weeks here everything has gone exactly to plan and every human encounter has left us with a smile on our faces how often can you say that After Tokyo the pace of life in Kyoto was more relaxed. The centre of Kyoto is laid out in a grid pattern and reminded us strangely of Adelaide but otherwise the centre is much like many other modern city. Howeve http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/Kyoto/blog-278165.html Big lights big city. Hello TokyoTokyo is huge and seems to have lots of different centres but getting around on the extensive rail and subway system is easy. Finding a specific place however can be a bit of a nightmare because lots of the streets don't seem to have names we found it better to just turn up in an area and wander around taking it all in. We stayed in the Shinjuku area close http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/Shinjuku/blog-274610.html Our guide book describes Hong Kong as like a difficult person to understand and we know what they mean. Hong Kong is difficult to fathom and even more difficult to describe. It's probably fine if you just come here for a night or two as part of a stopover as many people do you would be dazzled by the highrise skyline from the Star Ferry or the Peak Tram and leave happy and impressed. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-274308.html Leaving the big city we were soon travelling deep into the Chinese countryside with the rain lashing at the train windows and paddy fields on either side for as far as the eye can see. Eventually we reached Yangshuo a town surrounded by soaring limestone peaks Karsts on the Li River. The town itself is quite attractive and fun with loads to do but it's the surrounding Karst scenery that is t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Yangshuo/blog-271788.html Leaving Beijing we caught the night train to Xi'an which was clean and punctual but the beds were very hard and being next the toilets we were awoken by the Chinese morning chorus of throat clearing lovely Xi'an is a busy modern city but it has the best preserved city walls in China which we were able to cycle around on a tandem definitely a once in a lifetime experience and not to be repeat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-271774.html We had six days in Beijing but were really only able to scatch the surface of this fascinating city. Beijing seems to have so many facets. The first image that greeted us was of the architypal communist city with its long wide boulevards lined with large hard looking blocks meeting at the huge Tiananmen Square with it's guards and Mao's mausoleum as its centrepiece. We stood in line to see Chai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-267538.html We had seen all the things in India that we had set out to see more quickly than we had expected thanks partly to being able to travel long distances on overnight trains without losing the days. This meant we had a spare week with no plans and with no intention of spending it in Delhi we consulted the guide books and whitled it down to two options either head south for a week on the beaches of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Punjab/Amritsar/blog-263258.html After almost a month in India we are at last starting to get a hang of Indian hotel room classifications. It goes something like this Delux Room awful Super Delux Room half decent Super Delux Maharaja Palace Suite quite nice. The forts and palaces of Rajastan were wonderful but it was time to head east to Agra to see the most famous building in all of India the Taj Mahal. We stayed l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-260258.html JODHPUR THE BLUE CITYJodhpur has to be the busiest and dirtiest place we have visited in India so far but looking down from Meherangarh Fort and the palaces that dominate the skyline the city looks beautiful. Many of the houses are painted blue apparently to deter termites but blue is also the colour of the highcaste Brahma of which there are large numbers here. The fort and palaces are am http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-259071.html Coming from Sydney to Mumbai we couldn't have had more of a culture shock if we had tried. After a relaxing 12 hour flight catching up with some movies and enjoying the surprising good food we stepping out into the madness. We squeezed ourselves and our luggage into one of the small black and yellow taxis and began a long hot loud and fascinating drive into central Mumbai. We weaved our way http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-256005.html Before hitting Sydney we spent a couple of days in the Blue Mountains so called because of the blue haze produced by the eucalyptus oil in the air. We stayed in the main centre in the Blue Mountains Katatoomba which was fairly ordinary but as soon as you got to the edge of town the land dropped away to reveal some truly spectacular scenery. The dubious sounding 'Scenic World' turned out to be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-255052.html It was great to meet up with David Les and John who joined us in Melbourne for a three week Australian holiday. Melbourne has a big city feel and vibrant atmosphere but still manages to be relaxed and laid back at the same time. We rented an apartment above one of the narrow lanes in the city centre bustling with cafes and restaurants that give Melbourne a more European feel it was the perfec http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-250154.html Next stop Adelaide for the week to visit our friends Steve who we haven't seen since he moved here almost three years ago Stewart Mandy and Simon. It's a lovely relaxing and cultured city and it was great to be staying with friends and not having to plan our own itinerary every day. Food and drink featured high on our Adelaide itinerary and we enjoyed a fabulous steak at The British Hotel C http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/blog-244684.html Strewth it's hot Over 40 degrees and the flies are everywhere we should have bought those hats with corks on but the outback is amazing.We said goodbye to the rare for us luxury of Cairns and caught a flight to Uluru Ayres Rock where things got back to basics camping for the next few days. We were met at the airport by our guide Smiley who lived up to his name and was a thoroughly nic http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Alice-Springs/blog-243258.html